


Skateboards: The Skateboard of Manhattan

by ciara_jane



Series: Skateboards [1]
Category: Doctor Who (1963)
Genre: Christmas, Gen, Skateboards, of course the doctor would get up to things like this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-05 21:57:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14627850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ciara_jane/pseuds/ciara_jane
Summary: Based on some Tumblr-created skateboard headcanons, a look at the Doctor and Skateboards over his various regenerations. Semi-requested by Tumblr user chiaroscuroverse.





	Skateboards: The Skateboard of Manhattan

**Author's Note:**

> Set during the events of the short story “Snowman in Manhattan” (Christmas 2006) the Doctor and his companions investigate a popular holiday toy while under employment in Santa’s Village.

“These Snowy Boots are absolutely ridiculous,” Steven groaned, looking around at the myriad displays of toys surrounding Santa’s Village. “Doc- I mean, Santa,” he began, “do you even know what most of these toys are?”

 

Rather than letting the Doctor, bedecked in red velvet and white faux fur, making frustrated grunts at the hat he seemed almost allergic to wearing (with his vehemence of how stupid and childish it was), Vicki spoke in his place, starting in a dispassionate ramble about this or that toy, these building blocks and those realistic kitchen toys, until finally, “and these primitive skateboards, I forgot they had such a resurgence in the early 21st century.”

 

“Skateboard, my dear Vicki?” the Doctor suddenly said, dropping the hat. Walking the twenty or so steps down the red carpet installed leading to Santa’s chair, the Doctor joined Vicki and Steven at an aisle endcap, Steven holding a long board, one end slightly curled, and pairs of roller skate wheels facing toward the floor. “A skateboard?” The faintest hint of confusion and possibly mild curiosity – not well disguised – coloured his tone.

 

“Yes Doctor,” she answered, “1950s North American creation.”

 

“Well? How do you use it?” The Doctor picked at the faux fur around the cuff of his left sleeve, not remotely thrilled with the bits of it that shed with any touch. “Have you got instructions my boy?”

 

Steven turned and motioned to the endcap, most of the skateboards still in their boxes, and Vicki took a box from the shelf, flipping it to the back: several illustrations of skaters in various poses. “I guess like this?”

 

“They all look… airborne,” Vicki mused, “but it’s too… primitive to have levitation abilities!”

 

Rolling his eyes, the Doctor retrieved the board from Steven’s hands and put it down to the tiled floor (with a mumble about carpeting and wheel friction), before setting one foot on it. As Steven and Vicki bickered about the toy, the Doctor slid the toy back and forth with his left foot, watching it glide over the floor. After a bit of trial and error, he pushed off with his right foot, gliding up the nearby aisle, giving himself another push-off when his wheels began to slow. “Ooh-hoo-hoo,” he grinned, the first not-faked smile he’d made in this Santa job, and pushed off further down the aisle.

 

“…right, Doctor?” Vicki said, turning around to attain confirmation, but finding the Doctor’s jolly presence long gone. “Doctor?”

 

“Doctor!” called out Steven, looking around the department store. “Doctor? Santa?” he called, and Vicki soon joined in the calling. “You go that way, I’ll go round this way,” Steven said, pointing down another aisle adjacent to Santa’s Village. Vicki gave a nod and hurried down the adjacent aisle while Steven ran down their current one. Steven looked round and was quite glad the store hadn’t yet opened for the day, though to be fair he wouldn’t have been surprised if the Doctor had disappeared while he was supposed to be entertaining the children visiting the toy area of the store…

 

After running up and down several aisles and several departments to boot, the Doctor seemed to have disappeared; after a few moments an interesting sound and crashing noise came from the café. “The Doctor!” they both yelled out, rushing toward the café.

 

The café had a rounded almost-ramp from the floor up to a window, often used as a slide by children running around waiting for their mothers to finish tea, and a feminine squeal came from a waitress who had dropped a large platter full of glasses onto the floor not far from it. Vicki and Steven rushed over, stopping short of the pile of glass shards before them.

 

“Santa, he’s…” The shell-shocked waitress pointed toward the window in question, her hand shaking. Sure enough, Santa on a skateboard moved with terrific ease up the ramp, easily executing an Ollie at the top before gliding back down, and pushing off the adjacent wall and repeating it, this time a slight grind against the top rail of the almost-ramp.

 

“Well I never…” Steven said, staring; Vicki remembered belatedly to close her mouth. “Santa? Should we get you a skateboard for Christmas?” he asked, half-jokingly.

 

A moment later, the Doctor glided to a stop, chuckling. “Would be more useful if it truly did levitate, but quite a fun way to pass the time, don’t you think?”


End file.
